5/5

This book was an absolutely wild ride. It certainly did not hold your hand through it and thrust you deep into the necromantic world filled with a deep magic and many complex character relationships.

There were many, many characters to keep track of and honestly this was one of the bits I didn’t love as much. Why were there just so many of them? And they each brought many complexities and interpersonal conflicts with them too that just made it all very hard to juggle. I almost was happy to see them start dying off just so I didn’t need to track them all in my head!

Really the two most important characters were Gideon and Harrow and their relationship was very well developed. It was really interesting watching how they went from pure hatred in the beginning to the changes at the final end. I really liked them as a team as well!

Gideon has such a distinct personality that was also quite fun as a POV. She truly was a meathead in a room of smart people and it was really interesting to pick up clues of what was happening when she herself did not quite understand.

The world itself was rather vague to be honest but with lots of promises which is why I did not mind they being stuck in one location throughout the book. It feels like you just scratched the surface of what’s out in the world and I’m all for it.

The bits I did have a harder time with was the prose being particularly wordy and rambly and honestly it’s the dialogue tags that made me have to reread some parts. The tags were always so vague and keeping track of who was talking when there were more than two people was hard. Very hard when all the characters were in the same room and having group discussions.

Overall though, just wow. Loved it. Despite the flaws and confusion, the strangeness and just complex world, it was a great book.